


We Just Might Win

by whatstheproblembaby



Category: Newsies - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Hockey, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 18:11:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16068560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatstheproblembaby/pseuds/whatstheproblembaby
Summary: Jack meets new students Davey and Katherine at the same time. How on Earth is a guy supposed to choose between them?





	We Just Might Win

Jack was on top of the world. It was the first day of senior year, which meant it was the first day of hockey practice, which meant he and the other boys were one step closer to clinching back-to-back state championships. Sure, Spot had graduated last year, leaving the team down a winger, but that was easy enough to fix - there were bound to be plenty of new people at tryouts that afternoon. Once they got a new player, they’d be unstoppable, especially with Jack himself as team captain.

He smiled as he entered the school, surrounded by his teammates. It was going to be a good year.

“Newsies forever!” Race yelled suddenly, hip checking Jack into the closest bank of lockers.

“Second to none!” Jack replied through a laugh.

The team’s roar of approval echoed off the school hallways and right through Jack’s heart. He was going to miss them when he went off to college, but he couldn’t deny that he was also going to be happy to _finally_ get out of his house.

___________________________________

“You got your lunch?”

“Yeah, Mom,” Davey said, picking the brown paper sack up off the minivan floor and shaking it in the direction of the driver’s seat.

“You got your gear?”

“Yeah, Mom.”

“You got your-”

“Mom, we’ve got everything we need,” Sarah interrupted, poking her head forward from the middle seats. “Possibly even more than we need, thanks to you clearing out CVS on the way here.”

“You’ll thank me for the hand sanitizer after you visit the bathroom for the first time,” Esther said with a sniff. “I don’t care if this _is_ the best high school in the area, school bathrooms are never as clean as you’d like them to be.”

“We know, Mom,” Davey said gently. “Thanks for looking out for us.”

“I know neither of you was thrilled about moving right before senior year, even if you didn’t complain in front of your father and I. The least I can do is try to make you as comfortable as possible,” Esther said, pulling up in front of York High. “Now go, I’ve still got to get your brother to the elementary school!”

Davey clambered out of the passenger seat with his backpack and lunch, nearly bumping into Sarah on his way to the trunk as she climbed out of the back.

“Tomorrow I get to ride up front and you have to sit next to Les!” she called as he pulled his hockey bag out of the car. “You don’t get to be the passenger all the time just because you’re technically the oldest.”

“No, I get to be the passenger all the time because I’m the tallest,” Davey said, reaching forward to ruffle his little brother’s hair before shutting the hatch and smirking at Sarah. When she shot him a look of pure murder, he hastily conceded, “But we can trade off.”

“I dunno what I’m complaining about anyways,” Sarah said as they walked toward the building. “Once you make the hockey team, I’ll always get to ride up front, because you’ll have practice before school.”

“Don’t jinx it, Sarah!”

“Davey. You were one of the best players back at Woodside. Unless you suddenly forget how to skate between now and tryouts this afternoon, you’ll be _fine._ ” Sarah slapped him bracingly on the shoulder. “You got this.”

“So do you,” Davey said, looking his sister full in the face. “The drama club won’t know what hit them when you get to auditions later.”

“Aw, Dave,” Sarah said. A wave of genuine pleasure came over her before she continued, “Don’t tell me things I already know.”

She sauntered off, leaving Davey smiling in her wake. He still wasn’t happy about the move, but as long as he had his family, he’d always be okay. And he would have to meet some good people at tryouts later, wouldn’t he?

___________________________________

Katherine had to resist the urge to grab her father’s fountain pen from his desk and stab herself in the throat with it to get out of the conversation they were having.

“It’s not too late to change your registration forms, sweetheart,” Joseph said, pushing a sheaf of papers in her direction. “Your name-”

“Was a burden before, Dad! No one ever treated me like I was a regular student, because they all thought I’d go crying to you whenever I didn’t get what I wanted. I need to know if I’m actually any good at journalism before I go off to college, or if people were just too afraid of you to turn me down.”

“One day you’ll learn that stubbornness is an unattractive trait in a woman,” Joseph muttered.

Katherine had to bite the inside of her lip savagely to keep from responding to that remark. Instead, she gathered her bag and quickly exited his office, stopping by the secretary’s desk in the foyer to grab a map of the school. Other students were starting to enter the building, and she needed a simple excuse for why she was leaving the principal’s office before the school year had even begun.

She quickly wound her way through the halls to her homeroom, thrown off her stride only once when a bunch of kids in hockey jerseys stopped suddenly in her path.

“Excuse me!”

“Oh no, the fault was all ours,” one of them shot back with a cocky, interested smile.

“You’re damn right it was,” Katherine said, shooting the kid an unimpressed glare before shouldering her way past them and into her classroom.

The first day passed as first days always do, in a haze of syllabuses and class rules and homework assignments. Katherine diligently wrote down the due dates in her planner, but she didn’t devote much of her brain power to actually processing what her teachers were saying - she was too focused on the school newspaper meeting she was planning on attending when classes let out.

_What if they don’t like me? Or they think I’m some kind of talentless hack? Oh God - what if their editorial board decides to do an investigative report into the new principal? My byline won’t last more than five minutes!_

The final bell rang, distracting Katherine only long enough for her to gather her things and start walking toward the newspaper room. She didn’t even see the brunette she ran into until the other girl was on the ground.

“Ahh!”

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Katherine said, reaching down to help hoist the other girl up. “I wasn’t looking-”

“Neither was I,” she replied easily. “But hey, nothing’s broken, no harm done. I’m Sarah, by the way - I just transferred here.”

“Me too!” Katherine said. They shared a smile at the coincidence. “Katherine.”

“Nice to meet you, Katherine. I’d ask if you were heading to the auditions, but since we’re going opposite ways….”

“No, I’m off to see about joining the school paper. But maybe I’ll get the arts beat and see you at rehearsals!”

“I can only hope,” Sarah said. “Good luck with the paper!”

“Break a leg at auditions!” Katherine replied. They shared one last smile before parting ways, and Katherine’s heart lightened. She still wasn’t sure if she could make the paper, but meeting a beautiful girl was never a bad moment in her book.

________________________

Jack did lazy laps around the rink, enjoying his ice time before tryouts started and he’d have to make his way to the bench to judge potential players.

“Jack! Get over here before you get dizzy! We all know what happened last time,” Coach Medda called. Her eyes sparkled with laughter.

“I vomited _one time_ , when I was _six_ ,” Jack replied. “When are you gonna let that die?”

“I won’t let her,” Crutchie said, cutting in. “It’s my job as team manager.”

“I dunno why I’m friends with you,” Jack grumbled, skating over to the bench. He cuffed Crutchie gently over the head once he was within reach, prompting Crutchie to punch him in the shoulder.

“Hey! No fights when the newbies are so close!” Medda said. “They can’t see how dysfunctional we are until it’s too late for them to quit.”

“Yes, Coach,” Jack and Crutchie chorused.

“So we had about twenty-five boys in the locker room a couple minutes ago when I went in to tell them how tryouts are going to work,” Medda said, holding up three legal pads. “The ten that didn’t laugh in derision when they saw that this team has a female coach will actually make it to the ice.”

“You’d think people would have learned not to doubt you by now,” Jack said, taking one of the pads and passing the other to Crutchie, who had already taken his seat on the bench and propped his forearm crutches up next to him.

“Some people just don’t believe women can know about hockey, even when confronted with facts,” Medda said. “I can’t fix stupid, boys.”

Jack and Crutchie shared a laugh.

“Are you all ready to start?”

At Jack’s nod, she blew her whistle, and the boys took the ice. Albert and Elmer played on the o-line with each newbie, while Race and Specs played defense against them, testing their skills. If any of the new boys made it past them, they had to take on Smalls in the goal.

Jack didn’t envy them there.

“You think Smalls will show pity on any of them?” he muttered to Crutchie.

“I’m sorry, you’ve _met_ Smalls before, right? ‘Pity’ isn’t in her vocabulary.”

“You're right.”

The tryouts flew by as Jack, Crutchie, and Medda watched and took notes. All of the boys were decent wingers, but only three managed to make it past Race and Specs, and only one even put up a fight against Smalls.

“Jacobs! Murphy! Garland! You three stay. The rest of you, thanks for coming, but you can hit the showers now,” Medda yelled once they'd seen everyone. “Jack, Finch, take the ice. Let's see how these boys play with your line.”

Jack traded his notepad for his helmet and hopped the boards. Albert and Elmer weren’t slouches - none of the Newsies were - but neither of them was likely to get moved from the second line to play with Jack and Finch. They were too good as a unit with Jojo, and Medda never fixed anything that wasn’t broken. They were perfect for seeing which newbies could play on the first line, though.

“Who’s first?” Jack spit out through his mouth guard. The smallest newbie, Garland, skated forward, and Jack and Finch took their places around him. Crutchie lobbed a puck their way from the bench, and the next round of tryouts began.

_________________________

Katherine picked her way carefully down the steps of the hockey rink’s seating area, hoping she didn’t look too out of her depth. As the only new person to show up to the York High _Sun_ ’s first meeting, she had easily gotten a spot at the paper, but her beat wasn’t exactly what she had hoped for.

“Sports,” Darcy, the co-editor, had said.

“Sports?” Katherine repeated, flabbergasted.

“Sports,” Bill, the other editor, confirmed. “It’s all that’s available at the moment, and we won’t be shifting the assignments - if we do at all - until next semester.”

“I don’t know much about sports reporting,” Katherine said. “At my old school, I did more investigative and editorial work.”

“That’s our beat,” Darcy said, gesturing between himself and Bill. “But maybe if your articles impress us, we’ll let you try a column or two... _next semester._ ”

“And until then?” Katherine asked.

“You can do the sports beat, or you can haul your ass down to the yearbook meeting and see if they’ll let you write some fluffy little retrospective no one will actually read,” Bill said.

Katherine hastily accepted her beat and hustled off to the hockey tryouts Bill and Darcy told her were happening. She also wasn’t used to sports other than football being the top dog in high school, but she wasn’t complaining - at least she didn’t have to worry about the weather with hockey.

“Hi, I’m Katherine,” she said when she made her way down to the home team’s bench. “I just got assigned the sports beat for the _Sun_.”

“Oh, congrats,” the blond boy on the bench said. “I’m Charlie, the team manager, but everyone here calls me Crutchie, because of, you know, the crutches.” 

Katherine blinked. “And you don’t mind that?”

“The team are the only people allowed to call me that, and only because it started as a joke - one of our d-men, Race, accidentally called me ‘Crutchie’ instead of ‘Charlie‘ when we were seven, and it caught on more as a way to make fun of him than of me. Since you’ll probably be here a lot to cover games and everything, I don’t mind if you call me Crutchie, too.”

“If you’d really rather be called Charlie, I can-”

“It’s fine, I promise,” Crutchie said. Katherine searched his face for any sign of hesitance, but came up with nothing, so she took him at his word.

“Wait, back up,” she said, playing Crutchie’s story over in her head. “Someone here is named _Race_?”

“Another hockey nickname,” Crutchie explained. “You’ll get used to it.”

“God, I can only hope,” Katherine muttered. “Can I ask you an only semi-hockey-related question?”

“Sure,” Crutchie said with a bemused smile.

“Why in the world are the sports teams here called the Newsies?”

Crutchie laughed. “Right, that old question. Back when the school was founded, the guy who owned the town newspaper was a big deal. Like, owned-every-building-downtown a big deal. So when he made a generous donation to the teachers so they could buy books and slates and whatever the hell else people used back in the olden days, they decided to make the school mascot a newsboy in his honor. Newsboy became Newsie, and now here we are.”

“Huh. Not quite as weird a story as I was expecting,” Katherine said. She clicked her pen and poised it above the lined pages of her notebook. “So...what’s the scoop on tryouts? Any surprises?”

“It’s been pretty standard so far,” Crutchie said, shifting his gaze to the players. “We had a bunch of guys to start with and whittled them down as we went on. The ten that actually made it to the ice played with our second line, and the three that showed real promise are now playing with the first line.”

Katherine’s note taking was interrupted by the sound of a player slamming into the boards and falling on his ass.

“Crutchie, I won’t lie to you, I don’t know much about hockey,” she said slowly. “But shouldn’t a player only smash into the wall because someone else pushed them?”

“You’re spot on, Katherine. _Jack, what the hell was that?_ ”

__________________________

Jack wasn’t completely sure he believed in God, but if He existed, He was absolutely fucking with Jack just then.

He was skating down the rink toward Smalls and the goal, waiting to see if the final newbie, Jacobs, could evade Specs and get the puck back to him, when he looked toward the bench and saw Crutchie talking to a girl who looked like an angel come down from Heaven.

And then he ran into the boards without anyone laying a hand on him.

“Jack, what the hell was that?” Crutchie yelled over the laughter of the other boys.

Jacobs skated over, extending a hand to help Jack up. “You okay?”

“Yeah, ‘m fine,” Jack said, taking Jacobs’ hand and hauling himself back up. “Thanks.”

“All right, that’s enough!” Medda boomed, silencing the rink. “I’ve seen what I needed to see. Jacobs, Murphy, Garland, stay on the ice for now - I just need to confer with the captain and the manager before I decide. The rest of you hooligans - get out of my rink!”

Jack skated over to Medda and Crutchie, thankful the girl had gotten up and taken a seat a few rows back at Medda’s yell. Once he had his helmet off, he said, “I’m leaning toward Jacobs. He was the only one who even got close to Smalls, even if he couldn’t get a goal off her.”

“Honey, if any of these new boys had scored a goal off Smalls during their tryout, I would have fainted,” Medda said. “But I’m with you - you couldn’t see it, of course, but he was skating nicely with you and Finch.”

“For real,” Crutchie said, nodding. “Once he got his stride, it looked like he had been part of the team for years.”

“Then we’re decided?” Medda said. At Jack’s and Crutchie’s murmurs of agreement, she called out, “Jacobs! Welcome to the Newsies. Murphy and Garland? I sincerely hope you try again next year.”

Jack set his helmet on the ice before clambering back over the boards to grab his notes as Jacobs skated over to get the paperwork his parents would need to sign from Medda. When Jack had one leg over the boards and the other coming off the ice, Jacobs - who had taken off his helmet as he was skating - came into his full view.

Jack fell head first onto the bench.

_It wasn’t enough to show me a pretty girl, God? he thought as he scrambled back upright. You had to put a beautiful man on my hockey team, too?_

“Is this a habit of yours?” Jacobs asked, mildly concerned.

“He’s a special boy,” Medda said, handing Jacobs the paperwork. “You all set?”

Jacobs nodded.

“Then head off to change, and we’ll see you at practice tomorrow! Twice a day, before and after school,” Medda said.

Jack gathered his stuff and hopped the boards - successfully, this time - before following Jacobs to the locker room.

“Nice work out there,” he said once he had caught up with the new boy. “I’m Jack.”

“Davey. Nice try at concussing yourself.” Davey smirked.

“Oh, a funny guy. We needed another one of those,” Jack said. He held a displeased expression just long enough to make Davey look a little uneasy, then let out a snort of laughter. “You’ll fit right in.”

Davey’s tone became sincere as he said, “Glad to hear that.”

“Glad you made the team,” Jack said, pulling off his glove to shake Davey’s hand. Davey stopped to take his own glove off before putting his hand in Jack’s.

Jack hoped the tingle that went down his spine as their skin touched wasn’t too obvious to Davey. If he wanted even a snowball’s chance in Hell of wooing the new boy, he needed to regain _some_ dignity.

___________________________

Davey flexed his hand subtly as he followed Jack into the locker room. His surprisingly handsome new team captain was definitely a little odd, but that hadn’t stopped electricity running through Davey’s arm when Jack smiled and they touched skin-to-skin for the first time.

He changed quickly, not wanting to keep Sarah and his mom waiting. When he left the locker room, he saw Sarah leaning against a wall, talking to a girl who looked vaguely familiar.

“There he is!” Sarah cried once she saw him. “The new star right wing for the York High Newsies, Davey Jacobs himself!”

She rushed him for a bear hug as the other girl smiled a smile that made his heart swoop.

“You really were excellent out there,” she said. “I was covering tryouts for the school paper, so I saw most of what happened.”

“Oh, I thought I’d seen you somewhere,” Davey said, spitting some of Sarah’s hair out of his mouth. “Guess I’ll be seeing you around.”

“More than you might think,” Sarah said, dropping her hold on Davey and turning back to the other girl. “Katherine here just told me she’s never seen _Legally Blonde_ , and as her self-appointed best friend, I cannot let that slide. I’m gonna ask Mom if I can invite her over sometime soon.”

“Because Mom ever says no to company,” Davey said, linking arms with his sister and starting down the hall toward the main entrance. “Katherine, if you want to save yourself, I promise I’ll distract Sarah long enough for you to make a break for it.”

Katherine giggled. “You heard her - she’s my best friend, Davey. I can’t escape now.”

“You’ll regret saying that someday.”

“I’m sure I’ll be around enough to let you know if you’re right.”

______________________________

The next day, Katherine slid into her seat for her first period English class and took a look around the room. She had been so wrapped up in her worries about making the paper yesterday that she hadn’t even noticed who was in the class with her.

“Davey!”

“Oh, hey, Katherine,” Davey said, taking the seat in front of her. “I didn’t know we had this class together.”

“Me neither, but I’ll admit I wasn’t really paying attention yesterday. I was so stressed about making the paper that I wouldn’t have noticed a three-ring circus taking place around me.”

“I was feeling the same way about hockey tryouts,” Davey said. He shot Katherine an embarrassed, adorable grin that she couldn’t help but return. “But now that I’m on the team and you made the paper, we’ll be the first people in line to see the fire eater, right?”

“You know it,” Katherine said. The look of fondness in Davey’s eyes was just about to make her melt when a new arrival spoiled the mood.

“Well, hello, beautiful,” said the dark-haired boy who took the seat next to Davey’s. “Didn’t I see you at hockey tryouts yesterday? You gonna write a story about how the captain’s gonna lead his team to back-to-back championships? Because I am more than willing to give you some _personal_ quotes.”

“You’re gonna lead them to a championship?” Katherine asked, raising an eyebrow. “You ran into the side of the rink yesterday without even getting checked. I’m not sure you could lead the team from the locker room to the ice without a map and a tour guide.”

Davey let out a whoop of laughter, earning him a smile from Katherine and a glare from Jack.

“I’m sorry, Jack,” he said, composing himself. “But Katherine got you there.”

Jack frowned a little longer before breaking into a smile that made Katherine’s heart melt despite herself. “She did, didn’t she? I think we’ll be lucky to have you at the games - a little trash talk from you, and the other teams won’t know which way is up.”

Katherine didn’t know how to respond to that, and thankfully, she didn’t have to - as Jack finished his sentence, the bell rang, and Mr. Denton began class.

 _Are you an egotistical flirt, or do you actually have a personality worth getting to know, Jack?_ she thought, pressing her lips together. _Guess I’ll find out._

___________________________

Jack felt like he’d been whammied. He’d missed the first day of his English class to help Medda make sure everything was ready for tryouts, so walking in and seeing Davey and the angel from the rink yesterday chatting like old friends almost made him trip over his own feet.

He’d hurried into the seat next to Davey before anyone else could get there and proceeded to say the douchiest thing possible to the girl behind him. Even as he was speaking, the rest of his brain was screaming _SHUT UP, YOU IDIOT,_ but he couldn’t regain control of his own mouth until after the damage had been done.

 _At least you got her name out of it,_ he thought, ignoring Denton’s lecture. _Katherine._

Jack had had to turn around before he could really try to make up for his ridiculous opening line, but he thought he’d seen Katherine’s posture loosen a little when he complimented her comeback, which was a start.

“Jacobs, Kelly, Plumber!” Denton said, startling Jack out of his thoughts.

“Why’d he call our names, Davey?” Jack whispered, trying not to draw Denton’s attention.

“You weren’t listening?” When Jack shook his head, Davey went on, “That’s our reading group for the year. Are you Kelly or Plumber? I don’t know who else we should be looking for.”

“Kelly,” Jack said. “And I know you’re Jacobs, obviously, but I dunno who Plumber is, either.”

“That would be me,” Katherine said softly. “Katherine Plumber.”

Jack had never been more excited for homework in his life.

___________________________

Davey looked between Katherine and Jack. “So…. _Catcher in the Rye_.”

“Ugh,” Katherine and Jack said simultaneously. They shared a bewildered look that made Davey have to look down at his notes to keep his composure. In the couple of weeks that he had known both Jack and Katherine, he had realized that they shared a lot of values, but every single time one of these similarities was revealed, they both seemed shocked and a little disgusted. It was both hilarious and adorable, in Davey’s opinion.

Though perhaps that last part was just because Davey thought they were both adorable….

“I take it neither of you are fans of Holden Caulfield?” he asked once he knew he could speak without laughing.

“He has some good points about growing up, I’ll give him that, but a lot of his interactions with women frustrated me, to put it mildly,” Katherine said from her perch on Davey’s desk chair. Davey himself was on his bed, while Jack lounged on the floor between them. “He makes Jack seem suave and charming in comparison.”

“Hey!” Jack yelped, affronted, as Davey snorted. “I only spoke to you like that the once!”

“Yeah, but Crutchie’s been telling me stories about your se-, I mean, escapades during practice,” Katherine said with a smirk.

Jack muttered something about “best friends having no loyalty,” but Davey was preoccupied by another part of Katherine’s sentence.

“Wait, Kath. What were you gonna say instead of ‘escapade’?” he asked.

“Nothing,” Katherine said quickly. Much too quickly.

The pieces came together in Davey’s brain. “Were you - were you gonna say _sexcapade_?” He hooted. “You were!”

“No!”

“Oh, she so was,” Jack said, looking at Davey. They held eye contact for about a millisecond before bursting into deep, chest-heaving laughter.

“Stop! Stop it!” Katherine squealed, but even she was fighting a smile. “You know I hate that word!”

“Then why were you about to slip it into our conversation?” Davey asked, gasping for breath.

“Because Race used it the other day at practice and now I can’t stop hearing it!” Katherine said. She buried her face in her hands, muffling her voice as she went on. “It’s like it’s haunting me.”

Jack put a finger to his lip, signaling Davey to be quiet, before crawling carefully and quietly over to Katherine’s ear.

“Sexcapade,” he moaned, pitching his voice to sound ghostly. Davey broke into a fresh round of laughter. “Sexcapaaaad- _ow!_ ”

Katherine glared triumphantly down at Jack, who was rubbing the spot on his collarbone that she had elbowed.

“Can’t take a little check, Kelly?”

“That’s unsportsmanlike conduct, and you know it, Plumber,” Jack replied. “Take a seat in the penalty box.”

“Which is where?”

“Right there!” Jack said. He got up and walked back to Davey’s side of the room, where he plopped down dramatically on the bed. “Me and Davey are gonna hang out over here and be _nice_ to each other, because he _likes_ me.”

He nuzzled into Davey’s side, and Davey wrapped his arms around Jack obligingly.

“Do I like you, or do I just like that you’re always warm?” Davey teased, making Jack growl and bury his head into Davey’s neck.

Katherine blew Davey a playful kiss, and they shared an affectionate, private grin over Jack’s head. Davey couldn’t recall ever feeling so happy.

He just couldn’t figure out if it was because of Jack or Kath.

____________________________

When Katherine wasn’t sure of what to do, she researched. Google had always given her answers, from when she was seven and wanted to know how TVs worked, to when she was thirteen and needed to know how to get bloodstains out of her favorite pair of underwear, so she wasn’t expecting it to fail her now.

She just also wasn’t sure she wanted to know what she’d find.

“Come on, Katherine,” she murmured to herself impatiently before flexing her fingers and typing.

_Can you have feelings for two people at once?_

She skimmed the first page of results, checking the website names to see which one looked the most informative (and the least likely to give her a computer virus). An article on wikiHow had a four-star rating, so she gave it an apprehensive click and began to read.

And reread.

And one more time after that, just to be sure.

“So this is a thing,” she said, grateful her father wasn’t home to hear her and ask what she was talking about. “People can be...polyamorous.”

It made sense to her. After all, it explained why she felt her heart flutter around both Davey and Jack, why she daydreamed about Jack’s smile and Davey’s eyes, why she loved hanging out individually with both of them but felt more balanced when they were all together. She was in love with both of them.

Her next thought made her stomach drop.

“But do they love me back?”

Katherine had her hopes. Jack took every chance he got to be tactile with her, whether that was through roughhousing or hugging or even fixing the collar of her shirt if the strap of her bag knocked it askew. He wasn’t exactly hands-off with the rest of the hockey team, but he seemed to ramp it up around her and Davey especially - even more so than he did with Crutchie.

Davey, on the other hand, always seemed to be in tune with her. If she couldn’t find a pen in her bag, he had one ready when she looked up. When Jack started talking about how it had always been his dream to go to college in Santa Fe for the bajllionth time, they’d share a knowing look, and she could tell they were each thinking about the unseasonably warm day they’d had back in October, when Jack complained that he was melting and it was only seventy-eight degrees. Hell, she could sneeze in Sarah’s room and hear Davey yell “BLESS YOU” from down the hall, even when they had music playing.

So maybe her odds were good. She just had to work up the nerve to ask them.

___________________________

Jack snapped his fingers in Crutchie’s face. “Are you even listening to me?”

“Well, I was, but then I got a little lost,” Crutchie said before sucking up the dregs of his slurpee loudly. He set the cup down underneath the park bench they were sitting on. “Who are you talking about?”

“What?”

“You started talking about how beautiful Katherine is, and how quick-witted she is, and how smart, but then you started using ‘he’ instead of ‘she,’ and now you’re talking about how much you love playing on the same line,” Crutchie explained. “So do you like Davey, or do you like Katherine?”

“I, uh…” Jack trailed off, feeling like he was missing something obvious. “I don’t know? Being with Katherine...it makes sense, you know? You meet a girl, you fall in love, you do all that stuff. But then being with Davey _also_ feels right, and it ain’t weird for two guys to fall in love, either. The best times, though, are when all three of us are together. Like last week, when Davey and I were tryin’ to teach Kath how to skate. There were a bunch of other people at the rink for open skate, but it felt like we were the only ones there.”

“So...maybe you like both of them.”

“But I’ve gotta pick one!”

“Do you?” Crutchie asked. At Jack’s questioning look, he went on. “Look, I dunno much about relationships, but I’ve read _Harry Potter_ , and I go on the Internet. The battle lines get drawn fast - do you like Hermione with Harry, or Hermione with Ron? Which relationship do you strengthen, and who gets left in the lurch?”

“Are you going somewhere with this?” Jack asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Pipe down, I’m gettin’ there. What I’m saying is, you and Davey and Kath - I don’t see that struggle with you. I can’t picture you and Kath getting together and shutting Davey out, or you and Davey starting to date and brushing Kath off, or even Davey and Kath hooking up and ignoring you. Either you all date, or none of you do.”

Jack thought smoke might be coming out of his ears with how hard his brain was working to process Crutchie’s ideas. “Is that really allowed?”

“Would you let it stop you either way?”

“No.”

“Then what does it matter? People will say all sorts of things about you no matter what. May as well enjoy yourself in the process.”

“You’re pretty smart sometimes, Crutchie,” Jack said, shooting his best friend a warm smile.

“Sometimes?” Crutchie teased.

“Don’t push it.”

___________________________________

“Okay, what the fuck is up with you?” Sarah asked, barging into Davey’s room and plopping down next to him on the bed.

Davey lifted his head from where it was buried face-first in his pillow. “Sarah!”

“Don’t ‘Sarah!’ me,” she said, shoving at his shoulder until he rolled onto his back. “I know when something’s bothering you, Dave, and you’ve been acting weird for like a week. It’ll be faster if you just tell me.”

“...Fine,” Davey said, knowing she was right. “It’s Jack and Kath.”

“Did they do something to you? I don’t care if Kath’s my best friend, family comes first.”

“They didn’t do anything, Sarah, don’t worry,” Davey said. “I just...am a little confused.”

“About…?” Sarah prompted, drawing out the o.

“How I feel about them?” Davey said, flinging his arms over his face. “Race asked me last week if I was gonna find somebody special for Valentine’s Day, and I thought about Jack and Katherine simultaneously, and then I think my brain exploded. Albert thought I’d shit myself when he saw the look on my face.”

When Sarah didn’t respond, Davey moved his arms away from his eyes to see her fist-pumping the air and kicking her legs victoriously.

“Sarah, what-”

“You finally figured it out!” Sarah said. “I was wondering when you’d realize you were in love with them both.”

“Why are you happy about this? They’re gonna think I’m a freak!” Davey moaned.

“Davey. My dear brother. I realize you can’t really see how Jack and Kath act around you, since you’re, you know, present in the moment, but I’ve seen you all interact. They’re absolutely fucking besotted with you and with each other as well.”

“Sarah, if you are screwing with me right now, I swear to God.”

“No, seriously!” Sarah said. She locked eyes with Davey, and her tone became more serious. “When you were out sick with the flu last month, they ambushed me at my locker to ask why you weren’t answering their texts. Once I told them you were sick, they practically set up a war room right there. Kath started Googling local food delivery places to see which ones had chicken soup and hot tea, while Jack grabbed every hockey player who walked by and told them to find every cough drop, antacid, and painkiller they had in their gym lockers and bring them to him by the end of the day. They were so intense that it was honestly a little scary.”

Davey vaguely recalled Jack and Katherine showing up at his house the afternoon he was sick, bearing more soup than the whole Jacobs family could eat and a grocery bag filled to bursting with medicine. He’d been fatigued to the point of semi-consciousness, so he’d just accepted their kindness - he hadn’t realized til now that they had been so concerned.

“They did that?”

“If I had told them you were trapped underneath our van in the parking lot because of some freak accident, they would have had one of those supermom adrenaline rushes that allows them to lift full-grown trucks off of toddlers,” Sarah said. “They’d do anything for you, and I know you’d do the same for them.”

“Then I guess I’d better tell them how I feel,” Davey said, sitting up.

“You’re damn right you’d better,” Sarah agreed. “And I know that legally you can’t all marry each other, but when you have your inevitable commitment ceremony or whatever, I’d better be the maid of honor.”

Davey just thwacked her with his pillow.

_____________________________

The atmosphere between her, Jack, and Davey was oddly tense. Katherine didn’t like it.

“So...ready for your big game on Friday?” she asked, internally smacking her forehead for how awkward that question was.

“Oh, yeah, for sure,” Jack said as Davey nodded vigorously next to him on the bed. “It’s gonna be a blowout.”

“Definitely,” Davey said.

The silence that descended after he finished speaking was physically painful. Katherine thought she might throw up.

 _Say something! Anything_ , she begged herself, spinning in Davey’s desk chair for something to do. Before she could work up the nerve to talk, though, Davey spoke again.

“Fuck it.”

Katherine shared a stunned look with Jack and stopped spinning. Davey almost never swore, even on the ice.

“I’ve got to tell you both something,” Davey continued. “And it might be a little weird, but it can’t be worse than this _thing_ between us right now.”

“You’re probably right there,” Katherine muttered.

“Jack. Katherine. I like you both, and I don’t mean like a friend. I want to be romantically involved...with both of you,” Davey said. He squeezed his eyes shut like he was expecting a punch, but he was in no danger there - Katherine was so stunned, she couldn’t breathe.

When neither of them responded, he opened his eyes again, begging, “Say something!”

“Me too,” Katherine said faintly. “Me too.”

“Me three,” Jack responded, only slightly louder.

They all exchanged a look that went from stunned to thrilled.

“Really?: Davey asked, beaming.

“Absolutely,” Katherine replied, feeling her own smile grow so wide it hurt. “I was too afraid to say-”

“I wasn’t sure how you’d react-” Jack cut in.

“It took me forever to realize,” Davey said. “I mean, I think I knew deep down, but I didn’t understand until recently.”

“So we’re all idiots who needed to get over ourselves?” Katherine asked, fighting a semi-hysterical giggle.

“Sounds like it,” Jack said, also chuckling. “But more importantly…”

“Yes?” Davey and Kath asked, voices overlapping.

“Do I get to kiss you both now?” Jack said, shooting them a shit-eating grin.

“At the same time?” Katherine teased. “I don’t know how that would work, logistically.”

“For that, I’m kissing Davey first,” Jack said. “As long as he’s cool with that, of course.”

Davey responded by leaning in and bringing his mouth tantalizingly close to Jack’s, only to push him back at the last moment, lean forward and grab Katherine’s chair, and plant one on her instead. She made a startled noise in her throat before her spine softened and she kissed him back, cupping her hands around his face.

“Is this how it’s always gonna be?” Jack whined, making Katherine laugh into the kiss and pull away from Davey.

“Make him shut up, please,” she said.

“Gladly,” Davey replied, turning to kiss Jack deeply.

Katherine just watched, feeling her heart swell. She couldn’t believe her luck finding these two boys.

After a long moment, Jack broke the kiss and caught his breath before saying, “Don’t wanna leave you out too long, Kath. C’mere.”

“Well, if you insist,” Katherine said, pushing her chair over toward Jack and leaning forward. He met her halfway and tangled his hands into her hair as they kissed.

Katherine couldn’t recall ever feeling more loved.

_______________________________

It started as a normal hockey practice. Jack, Davey, and Finch were running drills with Race and Specs, trying to elude the d-men and get the puck in the goal. Specs blocked Jack, but he managed to pass the puck to Davey, who sent it backward to Finch, who wasn’t being covered.

Jack watched as Finch wound up and shot the puck practically from center ice, making it go airborne. The puck sailed up over the glass, where it should have been stopped by a safety net, had the nets not been down for maintenance.

Instead, the puck soared toward Kath’s seat in the stands, where it hit her square in the collarbone, knocking her back hard onto the bench behind her.

Her notebook and pen clattered to the ground at the same time as Jack’s and Davey’s sticks.

“Kath!” Davey yelled, tearing off his helmet and gloves, Jack hot on his heels. “Katherine!”

They paused only briefly at the edge of the rink to tear off their hockey skates - even in crisis mode, they were both too well-trained as players to risk damaging the blades - and ran up to her seat.

Jack dropped down in the aisle as Davey climbed over the bench behind her to reach her other side. “How bad is it, Ace?”

Katherine’s eyes were tear-filled, but Jack could see a flicker of appreciation for the nickname he’d given her a few weeks back. “It’s probably going to leave a nice bruise, but I’m okay, really.”

She managed to sit most of the way up, but swayed dangerously before she could regain her seat. Jack and Davey braced her on either side.

“She needs to see the athletic trainer,” Davey said, leaning around Katherine’s front to speak to Jack. “He’ll be able to say if she’s concussed or not.”

“I’m not concussed!” Katherine said. Jack ignored her. She may not have been, but Katherine was the type of the person who could stick her hand in a pot full of boiling water and insist she was freezing, so he wasn’t gonna trust her word without an expert opinion.

“Can you carry her? I’ll run and get him ready,” Jack said. At Davey’s nod, he helped settle Katherine in Davey’s arms so her hurt left side wasn’t pressed up against Davey’s chest, then ran down the steps and vaulted over the railing and into the bench at top speed.

“I have to call the principal and report this, it’s policy,” Medda said. Jack just nodded absently, too focused on making his way to Roosevelt’s office.

By the time Jack could coherently explain what had happened, Davey and Katherine had entered the AT’s office as well.

“This must be the girl,” Roosevelt said warmly. “How’s the collarbone?”

“It’s probably going to be sore for a while,” Katherine said ruefully as Davey set her gently on the exam table and moved to stand by Jack.

“And the head?”

“Honestly, my head is fine,” Katherine said, more annoyed. “I did hit it when the puck knocked me back, but not that hard.”

“You do seem lucid, but I’ll check just to be sure,” Roosevelt said. He started with Katherine’s arm, having her lift and rotate it in every direction to see how it moved before running his hands gently over her collarbone to feel for breaks.

“Shrug your shoulders for me?”

Katherine did as she was asked, wincing slightly and making Jack’s heart sink.

“Does that hurt worse than anything else?” Roosevelt asked, staring at her sharply.

“No, not worse. It’s all sore - that was just the icing on the cake.”

“If that really didn’t hurt worse than any of the other movements, then I’d say nothing’s broken there. Deeply bruised, for certain, but some ibuprofen and an ice pack should be all you need,” Roosevelt said. Jack glanced at Davey, who let out a relieved sigh that mirrored Jack’s own. “Now to check your head.”

“Well, we already knew she was a little goofy there, Doc,” Jack said, unable to resist a wisecrack now that he wasn’t so concerned for Katherine. “How will we know the difference?”

“Hey!”

“If you agitate my patient, Kelly, I’m going to have to insist that you leave,” Roosevelt said, shooting Jack a playful smile. He turned back to Katherine and started asking her some basic questions to test her memory, then used a light to check the dilation of her eyes. “Can you stand for me, Ms. Plumber?”

Katherine carefully slid off the table, keeping her good hand braced on it for balance.

“Good. Walk across the room, please.”

Jack watched as Katherine did a lap to the far wall and back, speeding up as she completed the circuit.

“I’d say your gut instinct was right, Ms. Plumber - you don’t appear to have a concussion. If you start feeling nauseous or having balance issues, though, please do seek immediate medical attention.”

“Oh, she will,” an unfamiliar voice thundered as a tall, broad man entered the room. Jack vaguely recognized him as the new school principal. “Katherine, what the hell did you do?”

“I didn’t-” she began, but Jack cut her off, lunging in front of her like he could physically shield her from the principal’s voice.

“What gives you the right to speak to her like that? If her father hears that you were yelling at her-”

“Her father _is_ the one yelling at her,” Principal Pulitzer said.

Jack’s blood turned to ice.

“What?” He turned to look at Davey, who looked just as bewildered as Jack.

“You haven’t told your friends, darling?” Principal Pulitzer chuckled. “You really were playing this charade out to the bitter end. Plumber is my late wife’s maiden name. Katherine here chose to use it after transferring to York because she didn’t want to be associated with me, for some reason.”

“I’m beginning to see why,” Davey muttered, making Jack huff a silent laugh out of his nose.

“Jack, Davey, please, I didn’t mean-”

“That’s enough, sweetheart. We’re going home, and you are not setting foot in this rink again, school newspaper be damned. I’ll get you a new assignment.” Principal Pulitzer turned and left, not looking back to see if Katherine was following.

“I really didn’t-”

“I thought we told each other everything,” Jack said, voice hollow.

“I just-”

“I think you should go, Katherine.” When she didn’t move, Jack barked, “Go!”

She scurried out of the room, but not before Jack saw tears running down her cheeks.

He was just grateful she left before she could see he was crying, too.

____________________________________

Davey stared at his bedroom ceiling, feeling torn. He had just gotten off the phone with Jack, who was still furious with Katherine almost two weeks after her big identity reveal.

“I know she lied to us,” Davey had said. “And yeah, it hurt me too. But when I think about why she did it, Jack...I get it. Would we have treated her the same if we knew her dad was the principal? That any stories she told him about us could come back to bite us later?”

“I would have!” Jack replied vehemently. “I don’t care if her father is the principal or the president or God. All I want is for her to be honest with us. To _trust_ us.”

“I know you would have,” Davey said, closing his eyes. “You’re one of the most straight-dealing people I know. But I don’t know if I can say I would have done the same.”

“I can’t handle any more people lying to me, Davey. You know my parents already break their promises to get clean practically before they finish making them. I can’t take Katherine being dishonest, too.”

“I know,” Davey said softly. The conversation had ended shortly afterward, so now all he could hear was Katherine’s and Sarah’s voices talking down the hall.

“I don’t care if you’re upset with her, she’s my best friend and she has no one else right now,” Sarah had said before Katherine arrived. “I think it’s shitty that she didn’t tell us the truth, you know this. But she deserves someone to hear her out.”

Davey hadn’t pushed it. He’d been mad, of course, but now, he just missed his girlfriend.

The sound of sobs echoed down the hall. Davey almost flew to Sarah’s room before pausing outside the door, not wanting to enter if his presence would make things worse.

“I just want to fix this,” Katherine was saying through her tears. “I know I shouldn’t have lied to them, no matter my excuses - I should have told them the truth after we made it official. But how can I make it up to them if they won’t even look at me? They _hate_ me.”

“I don’t,” Davey said, entering the room. “I never could, Kath, I promise.”

Sarah muttered something about making hot chocolate and scurried out of the room.

“I’m so sorry, Davey,” Katherine said, a fresh wave of tears pouring down her cheeks.

“I’m sorry too,” Davey said, sitting next to Katherine on Sarah’s bed and pulling her practically into his lap for a hug. “I was upset, yeah, but I’m really not anymore. I was avoiding you because Jack was, and that was wrong of me. I should have let you know that I understand, and I forgive you.”

“You do?” Katherine said, pulling her head out of where she’d buried it in Davey’s neck to meet his gaze.

“It’s scary enough being a new student somewhere. I should know,” Davey said. “Being the new kid and being the principal’s kid? That’s a minefield I wouldn’t want to enter.”

“I still should have told you sooner. Especially because I _knew_ how Jack felt about lying, and I did it anyways. ”

“Maybe you should have. But I can move past that,” Davey said, wiping the tears off Katherine’s face. “As long as we don’t keep secrets in the future. You, me, _and_ Jack.”

“Deal,” Katherine said. “I promise, I don’t have any left. No secret twin sisters, no obsessed ex-boyfriends who try to stalk me. Nothing.”

“I can honestly say I wasn’t worried about _either_ of those scenarios, but okay, good to know.” Davey laughed. “Want to go see if Sarah really did make hot chocolate? I’m sure between the three of us, we can figure out a way to make Jack forgive you too.”

“I would love nothing more.”

_____________________________

“Seriously, what are you not telling me?” Jack asked Davey as they took the ice before the championship game. It was being held at York that year, and the atmosphere in the rink was absolutely wild.

“It’s a surprise, I can’t tell,” Davey said. “But I think you’ll like it, I promise.”

Davey put his mouth guard in when he finished speaking, so Jack did the same, knowing he wouldn’t get any more out of his boyfriend. Instead, he pushed his suspicions to the back of his mind and focused on the upcoming face-off, which he won handily.

The puck raced up and down the ice as the Newsies fought the Flushing team to see who would score the first goal. A few minutes into the first period, Jack finally got the puck, broke away from the defense, and slammed the puck into the net just centimeters above the goalie’s hand.

The crowd erupted as Davey and Finch collided with Jack for a celebratory hug.

“Look off to your left,” Davey whispered in Jack’s ear as he pounded him on the back.

Jack obeyed, searching the crowd until he saw a familiar face holding a large, spraypainted sign made out of what looked like a bed sheet.

_#1_

_MY MIDDLE NAME IS ELEANOR_

_I’M SCARED OF SPIDERS AND TORNADOS_

_I LOVE YOU_

_THOSE ARE ALL OF MY SECRETS_

_WIN THIS GAME!!!_

“Davey, what the hell-”

“Katherine and I promised each other no more secrets between the three of us. Since you still won’t talk to her, we decided she should come to you instead.”

“What is this, a teen movie? There had to be an easier way to do this.”

“But would you have listened?” When Jack didn’t answer, Davey continued, “Exactly. Now let’s go win this game so you can make up with our girlfriend!”

Jack did as he was told. He put even more effort into his playing, and the team responded in kind. The Flushing team was good, but they didn’t stand a chance when the Newsies were determined.

The final score was 6-3. Three of the goals were Jack’s.

When the buzzer rang out at the end of the game, the York supporters descended on the ice like a wave. Jack accepted many congratulatory back pats and handshakes, but he didn’t stop until he saw Katherine, Davey, and Sarah, all clustered together.

“Davey. Sarah.” Jack paused before greeting Katherine, letting her squirm just a little before he smiled and said, “Ace.”

“Jack!” Katherine said, flinging herself into his arms. “I’m so proud of you!”

“I’m sorry, Kath,” he said, holding her tight. “I shouldn’t have shut you out without hearing your reasoning.”

“And I should have told you the truth,” Katherine said. “I’m so sorry, Jack.”

“Are we just gonna go in circles apologizing?” Jack teased.

“No, we’re not!” Davey said, skating over and grabbing both Jack and Katherine in a bear hug. “We are going to celebrate, because we are state champions!”

Everyone near them on the ice let out a jubilant roar.

“I do have one question before we get to partying, though,” Jack said once Davey released them.

“Yes?” Katherine replied.

“Can I still call you ‘Plumber’?”

Katherine swatted his shoulder. “Jack!”

“‘Pulitzer’ just doesn’t work as well!”

“We can settle this later,” Davey said. “For now, I want to enjoy some time with the people I love.”

“I love you too,” Katherine said, leaning up to kiss Davey’s cheek, then Jack’s.

“And I love you both.”

The happiness shining from his boyfriend’s and his girlfriend’s eyes at that remark was more satisfying to Jack than winning any amount of state championships.


End file.
